Speaker of the Shura Council HE Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim highlighted the importance thatQatar, under the directives of its wise leadership, attaches to Artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, and setting legal frameworks to manage their use.

This came during hischairmanship of the Shura Council’s delegation to the 6th conference of the Arab Parliament and Speakers of Arab Councils and Parliaments held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Saturday. The conference is held to discuss and issue a draft document for an Arab parliamentary vision for the safe use of AI.

Al Ghanim pointed out to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s emphasis on and call for the need to hold an international conference to regulate cyber security in international law at the 73rd and 74th sessions of the United Nations General Assembly held in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The Speaker of the Shura Council underscored Qatar’s efforts to solidify national cyber and ensure the safety of the state’s vital interests by forming the National Cyber Security Agency.

He added that Qatar has supported a United Nations’ decision to set a comprehensive international convention to counter cybersecurity crimes, in addition to establishing the Qatar Computing Research Institute in order to meet local needs and enhance Qatar’s leading international standing in the field.

The Speaker of the Shura Council said that the state has adopted Qatar’s National AI Strategy in accordance with the Qatar National Vision 2030, to ensure the country’s economic and strategic future.

He stressed the importance of the draft document being worked out; however, pointing to member states’ divergence in opinions and positions regarding AI legalization.

TheSpeaker of the Shura Council continued by saying that AI receives international interest due to AI’s impressive role in serving humanity and facilitating life. He added that as the case with other forms of knowledge and sciences, AI also poses challenges and risks, particularly with regard to its military misuse which has the potential to threaten world peace and security, something on which specialists are working on understanding and mitigating.

Al Ghanim stressed the need for parliamentarians to work with AI experts and specialists on drafting comprehensive legislation on the safe use of AI in all fields.

The Speaker of the Shura Council said that Arab AI experts and specialists must benefit from conducting research and studies in the field, as well as preparing a report on the benefits and risks of AI use, and ways for its safe use, to then be presented to the Arab Parliament’s general secretariat and distributed among member states to guide their national AI legislations.